otolaryngologyinafrica.net
:: Hear Africa! ::
Last Updated on 2007-08-19
Why Hear Africa......?To understand the reason for promoting Hear Africa, you need to read this: The influence of poverty and other contending socio-economic variables on the approach to treatment, rehabilitation or otherwise of the hearing-handicapped in Africa is appalling For example, the per capita income of selected African countries is as documented below:
Compare this GDP per Capita to the cost of procuring a hearing aid. The current cost of a Behind-the-ear (BTE) aid is about 550US$ per ear, and most sufferers require 2 hearing aids! The cost of aiding one ear using In-the-canal (IC) hearing aid is about 1100US$. So hearing aid issue in Africa is gradually being left to the elites who can afford, and a whole lot of others go about promoting the 'deaf culture' since a large number of the hearing-impaired / hearing-handicapped and the potential ones are expected to swell the number to make this 'culture' more robust! It is like listening to Baldwin all over: "You were not expected to aspire to excellence: You were to make peace with mediocrity" - James Baldwin's The Fire Next Time What Other Data...?Statistics from my hearing loss clinic indicates that of every 10 hearing-impaired person seen, at least three have treatable hearing loss ( Otitis media with effusion, other conductive hearing loss, etc), three will benefit from hearing aids even though only one of these three can afford to pay for hearing aid. Three of the remaining four can be helped using cochlear implants / bone-anchored hearing aid (BAHA) - if the published evidence on the benefits of BAHA is taken as reliable, and only one patient out of ten may probably not be helped except by educational rehabilitation in special schools. Cochlear Implant is currently beyond the reach of 99.5% of those living in sub-Saharan Africa, and that implies 98% of the severely hearing-handicapped who are suitable candidates Now the reality is that two of the second three, and the remaining four are helplessly drafted into the 'deaf culture', some against their wish. And I do have regard for this culture. But my point is those that are not comfortable being part of the culture have no business being there. And that is the focus of Hear-Africa: To move as many people as are willing and can be assisted from the deaf culture into the hearing culture How Can You Contribute....?You can assist Hear-Africa to attain this goal by providing information on the hearing-impaired / hearing-handicapped you wish should be assisted. To do so, You need to download The Hearing Loss Registration Form. It is in PDF format, and you may need to download Free Adobe Acrobat Reader if you don't already have to view the file on your computer. Fill this form and email it to Hear Africa!. or to biodun@nanootology.org 
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